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Democrats have long been counting on an improving economy to help them in an otherwise challenging midterm election season. And it now looks like they could get it. The better than anticipated number was especially heartening given the recent report showing economic growth all but stalled in the first quarter of the year.

Now all that recent weakness looks like it really was the result of a frigid winter stalling everything from home-building to mall shopping.

The job gains were widespread across industries, suggesting employers were catching up on hiring they postponed over the cold winter.

The jobless rate dropped from 6.7 percent to 6.3 percent — the lowest rate since October 2008 – largely because the size of the labor force shrunk by 806,000 in April. No one knows exactly why the labor force keeps shrinking – it now sits at 62.8 percent, a 35-year low. But it at least in part reflects some people giving up on ever finding a job.

There were other weaknesses in the report. Average hourly earnings were flat at $24.31 and are up only 1.9 percent over the past year, meaning workers have little extra money in their pockets to spend and drive overall economic growth.

Stagnant wages across the middle of the economy will be a big issue in the midterm election with Democrats pushing for a bump in the minimum wage and Republicans arguing for a whole new set of economic policies to boost faster job creation and higher pay.

Meanwhile, it is too soon to say if the strong April jobs report means the economy will really start heating up heading into the second half of the year. Many economists believe it will do exactly that, with small businesses finally spending more on equipment and hiring.

But there are big risks as well. The housing market is cooling amid rising mortgage rates and is unlikely to drive faster growth the rest of the year. And while consumers have a lot less debt than they did a few years ago, they also have limited resources to do a whole lot of new spending, which drives most of the economy.

Job creation could keep rising to the 300,000-plus level typical of a very strong economy. Or it could dip back down to the very modest levels common to this tepid economic recovery.

“The unanswerable question is whether this leap in payrolls reflects a post-winter catch-up or is the start of a sustainable run of stronger gains?,” Pantheon Macroeconomics’ Ian Shepherdson wrote in a note to clients on Friday. “We are inclined to see a bit of both, but what really matters now is what happens in May.”

Friday’s report also showed that jobs growth in recent months was better than previously reported. The February number was revised from 197,000 to 222,000 while the March number was revised from 192,000 to 203,000.

The number of long-term unemployed, which has remained at stubbornly high levels since the recession, declined by 287,000 in April to 3.5 million, according to Friday’s data. Over the past year, those who have been out of work for at least nine months has declined by 908,000.

Jobs growth has remained fairly steady, if not spectacular, over the past year. With little action expected out of Washington this year ahead of the mid-term elections, both parties have taken the monthly jobs report as an occasion to chide the other for not embracing their proposals for spurring on economic growth.

“President Obama ought to call on his Democratic-led Senate to take up the stacks of House-passed jobs measures so we can get this economy moving again,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement.

The administration quickly celebrated the better aspects of the report.

“I consider 288,000 jobs created to be significant progress,” Labor Secretary Thomas Perez told CNBC. “We are moving in the right direction. You look across the broad range in growth of last month, you look at construction jobs, education and health, professional and business services, these are all middle class and upper middle class jobs.”

Friday’s data — along with the May report — will be factored into the Federal Reserve’s policy deliberations in June, when its Federal Open Market Committee next meets to decide whether to continue scaling back its asset buying program, which aims to keep long-term interest rates to low and encourage investments and spending. On Wednesday, the Fed announced another $10 billion reduction in its monthly Treasury and mortgage bond purchases.

Fed watchers say the bar remains high for the central bank to be thrown off its $10-billion-reduction-per-meeting path, particularly given the FOMC’s relatively upbeat assessment of the economy this week. Even a sluggish housing market on its own probably isn’t enough to convince Fed officials to drastically change course, some analysts said.